Grace of a Stranger
by millie-mione
Summary: There's no bigger believer in Fate and fighting for your dreams than Theresa, but after this round with Gwethan, she's at an all time emotional low. Can a gift from a magical stranger give her her second wind? Characters are not mine.


Tabitha Lennox foresaw the vision of a tornado coming in land to rock Harmony's coast- line. She grabbed baby Endora and strolled to her pensieve to see what was going on. Usually storms of any kind symbolized upcoming chaos, and she wanted to catch every minute of it.

Theresa sat at her favorite table at the Book Café and sulked as her mind replayed Ethan's latest episode where he shunned her for Gwen. He claimed that she was too selfish and conniving for him to trust and that he at least always knew where he stood with Gwen.

" Penny for your thoughts?" a beautiful black woman who spoke with a West Indian accent asked Theresa, as she poured her a second cup of coffee.

" No," she said sniffling," I'm sorry, but I don't want to talk about it."

" Mm. I see," the woman said. "Well then, I guess that I'll have to bring you a stronger pick me up than coffee."

"No, thanks. The coffee's just fine."

" P-shaw, it's nothing, child. Just hold on a minute. I'll be right back to ya', " the woman said.

Theresa felt tempted to get up and leave. She didn't want to talk or hear anything about Ethan after he dumped her a seventh time, but something stopped her. For some reason, she knew that she had to stay where she was. She felt that if she didn't stay that she might break into pieces with the slightest motion. She asked herself if that was really how she felt, or if she were just exaggerating her bad feelings a bit.

"Here we be, darlin', nice and fresh from the kitchen," the lady said as she sat a large slice of chocolate mousse cake with raspberry drizzle on top before Theresa.

" Thanks. I'm that obvious, huh?" Theresa asked pitifully as she thought about the comparison of chocolate and an empty sex life.

" Well, I say 'yes', and I say 'no.' When you've been around as long as I have, you're bound to know what's on people's minds.

Tabitha could have dropped as dead as a board when she saw a familiar face in her pensieve.

" Well, well, if it isn't my old friend Tituba. She's here to answer the desperate call of a "broken" heart, no doubt. Miss 'Song and Dance' never could resist meddling or partying for that matter. It was she who caught the attention of the Judges Crane by dancing about and partying with that bunch of idiot girls, causing everyone to gossip. Soon the Cranes combed the area looking for 'witches', and soon after they burned mommy. But, as they say, that was then, and this is now. Besides, there's nothing to worry about; if she's here to fix anything, then she's going to bungle it. She always does; she's a bane on the name of witch," she told Endora while laughing.

The woman brought Theresa another slice of cake, and this time she stuck a candle into itasking," do you believe in 'Fate', darlin'?"

" Why, 'yes,' " Theresa answered, almost giggling jubilantly," of course I do."

" Well, then, I have a little trick for you that might make you feel a little bit better about your problems. Now, it's goin' to sound a mighty bit silly, but I'm goin' to light the candle, and I'm goin' to let you blow it out after you make a wish," the woman said.

" I thought that that only worked on birthdays," Theresa said.

" Shush now, girl, and do as I say," the stranger said playfully as she lit the candle.

Theresa closed her eyes and made her wish; afterward, she inhaled robustly, and blew the candle out. It relit in a bluish-green hue. In the following instant, she began smelling the sweet aroma of pineapple and orchids in the air around her. Next, she felt her body start to dance to the ever-growing rhythm of the calendula drums whose timbres began pulsing more loudly by the second. When her dance stopped, she felt herself fall as if on a roller coaster.

A tropical sun filled lit the area around her, and she awoke to find herself back in Los Angeles at the poolside face to face with Gwen. What was she doing here? This wasn't good.

" You bitch! I'm going to kill you!" Gwen yelled.

Theresa knew that if she did anything rash that she would cause Gwen to hurt herself and the baby, so she decided on using another tactic, one that would stop the tragedy that was soon to come minutes later.

"Listen, Gwen. I know that you saw us kissing, and you have every right to be angry, but what you don't know is that Ethan pulled away from me after realizing that I wasn't what he wanted. Now, yes I was wrong to go after your husband. I know that you two love each other. As much as it hurts, I have to say that he doesn't want to see me anymore. He told me that he could never forgive himself for even looking at me or for hurting you. That's why I'm sitting out here right now. I have to force myself to see that Ethan loves you, not me," she said, feeling ready to slap herself, but it seemed to be working. Her killer glare faded to a meagerly hurt look.

" You are just so pathetic, you know that! If you are devastated right now, Theresa, then it serves you right. You knew that my pregnancy was at risk, and yet you still came out here to start trouble."

" No, not to cause trouble, just to get Ethan back. I always believed up until now that our love would never die, but after the way that he pushed me aside, I know that it has died. I'm returning to Harmony tomorrow. I hope that someday you and Ethan can forgive me," she said faking her tears.

Gwen looked at her for a second and said," Well, by this time tomorrow, your ass'd better be on your way out of here, or else I'm coming after you, you hear me?"

Theresa nodded and smiled realizing that she'd prevented the tragedy and watched Gwen turn around to leave. She didn't really mean anything that she'd said, but it was a start. Now, all she had to do was convince Ethan that she didn't mean any harm. He'd never return to her if he thought that she was trying to tempt him.

Theresa went back inside and saw Ethan looking at her uncomfortably. She just hoped that her next move would work.

She approached him and said," I've been thinking. You need to call Gwen more often and check on her. It's the right thing to do, you know? And listen. Forget about that little romp outside the club, okay?"

" What brought this sudden change of heart on?" he asked now looking somewhat relieved.

" I've decided that my antics have been causing you and everybody else undue stress, and I'm sorry. Now, I know that you can't be with me ever again, but I know that as a supportive friend, that I can in some way still be with you. You believe me, don't you Ethan?"she said looking into his eyes apologetically and letting the tears fall.

" Yes, I do," he said after surveying her for a second. He hugged her and said ," Thank you, Theresa."

She loved seeing his carriage of him self change and become relaxed as he ehaded away from her and off to bed.

" Oh, honey. I know that that was so hard for you to do, and I am so proud of you," Whitney said excitedly as she emerged slowly from the kitchen

" I know, and thanks, Whit," she said.

Theresa remained distant with Ethan for the next five days, and then the hospital called. They informed him that Sarah had been born healthy.

She watched everybody leave to see the baby, but she stayed behind. She would've loved to see Ethan's child her self, but she shirked the temptation and went to the kitchen to get some of Fox's canned pineapples to eat. She turned the radio on and heard Bob Marley play. Suddenly she began dancing again like the first time, and then she got dzzy and fainted. When she came to, she was in the livingroom of somebody's house when she heard the doorbell ring. She got up from the sofa to answer it and found her body feeling heavy. She looked down at her body and saw that was pregnant!

"Honey, sit down! Let me get it!" Ethan said.

'Honey?'

This could only mean one thing. She watched Ethan open the door, and she saw Gwen standing with Hank and holding little Sarah's hand.

" Hi, here she is. Now, we can't stay; because, I have a plane to catch to Boston, but we'll be back to get her in two weeks. Oh, hi, Theresa," Gwen said smiling happily while Hank only waved.

Theresa waved at them and smiled as she watched Sarah hug Ethan and then run to hug her.

" Hi, Theresa," she said.

" Okay, we're going now. Bye, everybody," Gwen said as soon as she saw Sarah settled.

" Yeah, see you guys later," Hank said following Gwen.

" Have a safe trip, you guys," Theresa called behind them. Little by little, Theresa's mind began to acclimate to her new life. It occurred to her somehow that two weeks after Gwen had given birth to little Sarah, that she and Ethan had decided to call it quits after realizing that they didn't really love each other as they once had long before.

It also hit her that she and Ethan got married a month later. Gwen replaced Ethan with Hank six months after she and Ethan tied the knot. As her mind finished adapting, Theresa recalled that Little Ethan was upstairs recovering from a sledding accident in which he lost a lot of blood. They tried to find a donor match, but neither she nor Julian were possible matches. It turned out that Ethan was the right match, seeing as how he was her baby's dad all along.

After learning this, Julian kept it all hushed out of sentiment for big Ethan and bought them this house while letting Ethan keep his job. He did it to celebrate finalizing his divorce to Rebecca, which was coming any day now.

Tabitha sat at her kitchen table cursing Tituba. She'd toppled years of Tabitha's faithful effort with one lucky swipe. This shouldn't have happened. Tituba was a lousy adversary. She couldn't even set a cauldron right side up. Oh well, at least she still had Luis, Miguel, Charity, and Sheridan to toy with. Good riddance to you, Tituba.


End file.
